“…… It was only in the seventh month that the king of Persia ordered us to march westward, and because the march was too large and the pace of the march was slow, it took us two months to reach Taposacus, and by this time Your Majesty had already led your army to conquer Syria, so the Persians ordered us to camp near Taposacus.

In order to facilitate my quiet departure and future contact, the Ksokant tribal army chose the northern outskirts of Taposakus as their garrison, not far from Mount Amarus, so one evening half a month ago, I secretly left the camp and burrowed north into the mountains, and was not noticed along the way, and then made a big circle before returning here......"

"Izzam, this time you risked your life to go deep into the heart of Persia, successfully contact the Ksokant tribe, and persuade them to support Dionya and make great contributions to the kingdom, and I would like to thank you on behalf of all the soldiers of the army!"

Davers saluted him solemnly, and Izzam quickly stood up and waved his hand again and again, not daring to salute: "Your Majesty, as a citizen of Dioonia and a senator of the Senate, this is my obligation!" And although I have retired, as a member of the former Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, this is my duty! I can't deserve the thanks of your majesty and the officers and men of the whole army! ”

This was said very appropriately, and Marigi blinked: you must know that when Izzam first followed Davers, he was a barbarian who did not understand the etiquette of humility, but after decades of cultivation in Dionia, especially after retiring from the army, his life in the past few years has completely changed his heart.

"Well, since you still see yourself as a Dionian soldier, then I will give you a great credit first and give you a reward after the war is over, according to the army's reward and punishment system." Davers was satisfied with Izzam's performance, and with a smile on his face, he asked, "You have been there for so long, do you know how many Persian troops there are?" What is the composition of their army? How is the combat effectiveness? ”

As the former captain of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, reconnaissance of the enemy situation was what Izzam was best at, so after a little thought, he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, according to my observations during this time, the Persian army stationed in Taposacus is about 350,000 people, of which the Persian army is about 200,000, and the rest are ...... For example, the army of Dukya has 30,000 men, Taukia has about 10,000 people, Amelia has about 30,000 people, Arabs have about 10,000 people, Scythia has 5,000 people, Kardan has 10,000 people, and India has more than 10,000 people...... Oh, and they also have more than 20,000 Greek mercenaries.

Of all the troops, the Persian army of about 50,000 to 60,000 defending the king of Persia should be the most combat-ready, and all of them were from the eastern regions of Susa and Persepolis, except for the undead army stationed in Babylon—"

"Artaxerxes himself led his army into battle?!" Davers interrupted him, a little surprised.

Izzam quickly responded: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I forgot to mention that the king of Persia arrived at the end of the previous month with an undead army, and he stayed in the city since he arrived, and did not show up. ”

"Hmm......" Davers nodded, "You go on." ”

"In addition to the 50,000-60,000 Persian troops, the Persian army has an advantage over us, it has a large cavalry, including the cavalry in the dependent areas, about 30,000 people. In addition, it has more than 50,000 archers. But they don't have strong heavy infantry! This was the greatest weakness of the Persian army, but the Dukya tribal army, the Caldans, the Greek mercenaries, ...... The infantry combat effectiveness of these units is okay, and it is likely that they will be placed in the 1st line by the Persians in battle, against our legionnaires.

In addition, there are some special units in the Persian army that need our attention. One is the scythe chariot, it is said that the reason why Artaxerxes arrived in Taposacus so late was to prepare for these more than 200 chariots, I have seen this thing from afar, its axle is equipped with a long, sharp double-sided blade, when the chariot is moving, the blade will rotate with the wheels, it is very terrible to use it to charge into battle.

In addition, there are war elephants, which were brought by the Indians, and there are more than 50 of them. I've seen elephants many times at Turiyi Zoo, but this is the first time I've seen someone fight with it. The Indians placed a small wooden tower on the back of the elephant, on which could seat two people, one the mahout and the other the archer. The elephant is huge, and using it to charge into battle should pose a certain threat to our infantry array.

At first, the Arab camp was very close to the Amerian people, but the Armenian horses were restless because of these camels, and the Persians kept the Arabs away from the large army and built a camp themselves, but their camels were not many, probably more than 500 heads......"

Izzam paused, and seeing that Davos was silent, he hurriedly said in an accentuated tone: "Your Majesty, although the Persian army is huge, its source is too complicated, except for the tens of thousands of main forces, I found that most of the other troops are loosely disciplined, lack fighting spirit, and lack effective organization, and the various troops do not even understand the language between them, and it is difficult to cooperate well.

I experienced this acutely as I followed the march of the Dukya tribal army from Ogis to Taposacus, and the various troops, which had marched along the route laid down by the Persians for less than an hour, lost control and mixed with each other and scattered throughout the plain...... So every day in the early afternoon, the entire Persian army had to stop advancing, and then the troops gathered their soldiers again, which took at least two hours, including the Dukya tribal army, and often clashed with other forces because of this......

Such a combative, undisciplined, disunited Persian army could not stand up to our army, even if we were numerically inferior. But the Persians realized this, and when the bulk of their forces had reached Taposacus, they began to reorganize all their troops—"

"How did the Persians reorganize?" Davers asked earnestly.

"For some of the smaller troops, such as the Caldans and the Arabs, they merged them into the Persian army; For larger troops, such as Dukya and Ameria, they sent a number of Persian generals to their armies, who were responsible for conveying the orders of the Persian king and supervising the execution of the orders of the troops, as well as training them to cooperate with the Persian army...... So these days the Persian army has been training on the plains near Taposacus, and before I left, I felt that the Persian army was in better shape than when I first arrived in Tacusacus.

Your Majesty, if we allow the Persians to continue like this, even if we are able to win in the end, we will pay a great price, so-" Izzam pleaded in a solemn voice, "Your Majesty, we should attack this Persian army as soon as possible while it is still relatively loose and not kneaded together!" ”

Davers groaned, not immediately speaking.

Seeing this, Mariji immediately changed the subject: "Izzam, you have been in the plains of Mesopotamia for so much, how do you feel the attitude of the people there towards the entire Persian army?" ”

"Of course it won't be too good!" Izzam replied with a disdainful face: "The Persian army is not our Dionian army that has strict military laws to restrict, their subordinate troops come from different regions and different races, not only the military discipline is loose, but also some have a grudge against the Persians, such as the Dukya tribal army, which came to such a rich place as Mesopotamia, looting, destroying, and even forcing women to do and kill people every day, and the Persians also organized a large number of military law teams to deal with these disciplinary incidents, There have even been several major clashes with affiliated troops.

But even the Persian soldiers themselves were doing these disgusting things, so that when the towns along the way heard of the arrival of the army, they closed their gates and refused to let the soldiers enter, even to the Persian army...... I have heard rumors that some Mesopotamian nobles have intercepted the Persian king's chariot on several occasions and complained about the Persian army, but the Persian king does not seem to have punished him......"

Hearing this, Davers asked Marigi with great interest: "The inhabitants of the plains of Mesopotamia seem to be somewhat dissatisfied with the rule of the Persians?" ”

"Your Majesty!" Marigi replied with a little excitement: "Although the Persians have ruled the Mesopotamian plain for more than a hundred years and have always operated it as a core area, the Persian inhabitants are still not the majority in the Mesopotamian plain, and the main ethnic groups on this plain are still the Babylonians and the Medes, but they have always been obedient to Persia, and Persia treats them almost equally, and outsiders regard them as part of the real Persia."

But in fact, there is a difference between the two! The Babylonians, in particular, had become accustomed to being indifferent to wars between nations as they had been ruled by many foreign races for centuries, and they could accept whoever would rule the plains of Mesopotamia as long as their interests were not violated. Therefore, the fact that Cyrus the Younger led his army into the plains of Mesopotamia from Asia Minor and approached Babylon almost without any hindrance may have been an important reason.

I don't know if Artaxerxes was resentful of this, but the information from Mazaias shows that he clearly trusted the Persian nobles of Susa and Persepolis, who had given him great support during that turbulent period, and later gave them more power and preferential treatment, and even gave them some land on the plains of Mesopotamia, and these Persian nobles expanded their territory in Mesopotamia, causing tension between the nobles and inhabitants of Mesopotamia and the Persians. Although Artaxerxes later became aware of this problem and mediated, the Mesopotamian discontent with the Persians would certainly not be eliminated.

Your Majesty, as long as our army, having defeated the Persian army, has done nothing against the people of Mesopotamia, and has promised them some good, they will surely regard us as the masters of this land, and will open their gates to welcome us! ……”