The Persian archers withdrew a long distance before Arcinis gave the order to withdraw.

The soldiers withdrew their shields, stood up and looked at them, dumbfounded: the surrounding flat ground was littered with arrows, and the same was true for the shields, causing a sudden increase in weight.

In order not to affect the use of the long shield, the soldiers immediately drew their short swords and sharpened the shaft of the shield with great force.

"Your Majesty, the Persian archery troops have retreated, and our casualties are not large!" After listening to the immediate messages from the heralds, Phellisius reported to the king with a beaming face.

Davers nodded calmly.

"Thirty years ago, we used this method to successfully defend against the long-range attacks of the Persian archers, and now our legionnaires have better defense capabilities than we did then, and the Persians still use the old methods against us, and it is impossible to take any advantage!" Amindas said disdainfully.

At the pre-war military conference, it was precisely because of the advice of the veterans that Davers decided not to use light infantry for the first time, but to let the heavy infantry carry the Persian archery troops, which were superior in long-range attacks, in order to achieve the goal of attrition of the other side, and now it seems that the plan has succeeded.

At this time, Davers looked at the Persian archers who were receding like a tide on the opposite side, and said lightly: "The appetizers have been eaten, and it is time to eat the main meal next." ”

The distance of a mile made it impossible for the king of Persia and Tribassus to see the casualties of the enemy on the opposite side, but from the retreating generals, Trebassus was shocked to learn that the results were not ideal: send Persian archers to fight first, which was his suggestion. Because through a detailed understanding of the Battle of Asia Minor, and referring to some examples of Dionia's previous battles, he found that the Dionian army was different from the Greek army, their light infantry was not weak, and they liked to fight first in the battle to disrupt the opponent's formation, so he made such a suggestion, hoping to use his powerful bow and arrow troops to cripple the opponent's light infantry, and at the same time gain more advantages and also hit the morale of the opponent's army, but he didn't expect that the opponent's light infantry actually didn't fight, And the long-range attack on the Dionian heavy infantry did not achieve great results......

And when Tribassus came to Artaxerxes' approach, his face was no longer worried, but his face was happy: "King, the attack of the archery troops has caused a lot of casualties to the Dionian heavy infantry, we should take advantage of the victory to attack, and we can't let the Dionian army breathe!" ”

Artaxerxes was overjoyed when he heard this, and said without hesitation: "Then continue to attack!" ”

"Yes, my lord!" Tribasus turned around and gave the order: "Chariots and war elephants attack!" ”

The herald cavalry galloped out, partly to the front of the central array, and partly to the left flank.

Soon, Artaxerxes heard a high-pitched elephant roar in front of him, and his spirits were lifted, and he slapped the carriage and said excitedly: "Crush all the Dionians for me!" ”

Under the command of the mahout, 50 elephants began to march forward with their thick limbs, each step causing the ground to tremble; While they were still slowly accelerating, the scythe chariots on both sides were already moving at full speed, and the horses with their hooves flying and the rapidly turning wheels made a rumbling sound, stirring up billowing dust and mist, although they were only more than 200 chariots, they created the momentum of thousands of troops, like roaring beasts, viciously pounced on the Dionian army.

Even legionnaires like Arcinis, who had been trained in how to deal with chariots during their stay in Egypt, could not help but feel nervous at the moment.

At this moment, hurried footsteps sounded beside Arcinis, and it turned out to be the light infantry at the rear of the infantry array who quickly passed through the passage between the detachment phalanxes and ran to the front of the array.

In fact, after the Dionian light infantry brigade learned the location of the Persian chariots and war elephants on the opposite side, they had arranged their tactics in advance, so five thousand light infantry ran to the front of the formation and quickly lined up, with the javelinmen facing the war elephants in the middle and the archers facing the chariots on both sides.

There is no need for an order from an officer, the archers immediately draw their bows and shoot arrows in front of them after standing firm, even if the chariot is still a hundred meters away, they also take direct fire instead of throwing it, because they have been trained in actual combat in Egypt and know that it is difficult to hit a chariot traveling at high speed, on the contrary, even if it is far away, the rapid approach of the chariot will make them actively collide with the arrows in flight.

As soon as the archers shot an arrow, they didn't look at the result at all, and immediately drew the arrow and fired it again, because the time left for them was very short.

McCarkides, a native of Cretan, was invited by the Dionian War Ministry for winning the archery championship at the first Dionya Games last year, and after much deliberation, he finally decided to join Dionia, and after a special approval from King Davers, he only had to serve in the army for three years before he could become a full citizen.

After the news was deliberately publicized by the Turriyi City Hall, it caused heated discussions among the people of the allied countries, and the athletes were gearing up and training actively to prepare for the 2nd Ionian Games to achieve excellent results in the competition, in the hope of gaining the favor of the Dionian king, but the Dionian Games, like other Greek games, are also held every four years, and the time is still relatively long.

After immigrating to Turiyi, McCareides temporarily lived in a barracks, where he received military training while assisting the military trainers in training and improving their archery skills.

Light infantry, especially archers, rely more on personal skills, in the traditional Greek army in the archers have no special tactics, more by their own personal skills, but the Dionian army is different, the tactical ability of the archers is relatively high, Mai Jiakides entered the barracks for only half a year, just familiar with the tactics of light infantry encountered this war, the Turiyi military camp originally did not want to recruit him, but he in order to make military merits, become a full citizen as soon as possible, repeatedly requested. Considering his amazing marksmanship, the captain of the Light Infantry Group of the 1st Regiment recruited him as an ordinary soldier.

At this moment, McCarekides followed his teammates to the front of the array, and saw the speeding chariot rushing through the dust and mist, and rushed towards them with great momentum, and the soldiers shot arrows in their hands one after another. Although it was the first time he had experienced such a grand scene, he was born with a big heart, otherwise he would not have won the archery competition at the first Dionian Games, and he did not release the arrow immediately, but quickly calmed his breath, and while seeing the position of the chariot in front of him, he took a slight aim before releasing the bowstring.

As the main weapon used by the Persian army to charge into battle, the Persians, of course, knew that the scythe chariot was too large to be vulnerable to long-range attacks, so they not only covered the cart horses with armor, but also the crossbowmen and archers on the chariot also wore armor. Although many arrows hit the horses, they were blocked by the armor and did not cause fatal injuries, but instead accelerated forward with a scream under the eager whip of the crossbowman.

At this moment, the arrow shot by Meccides pierced the horse's head that was not covered by armor, and the galloping horse suddenly fell, and the entire chariot overturned due to inertia, and the crossbowmen and archers on the cart were thrown into the air, screaming and smashing into the place where Mejiakides was.

McCareids and his teammates scrambled to dodge.

"Be careful! Chariot! Chariot!! ......" The frightened shouts of the soldiers behind made Meccides turn his head in a hurry, only to see a chariot not far away not rushing forward in a straight line, but rushing sideways towards them.

It was so close that McCareides crawled out of the way, but some soldiers couldn't dodge, and one leg was unfortunately grazed by a white light flashing on the axle, and he was immediately twisted into several pieces and fell to the ground wailing.

The surrounding soldiers were all shocked when they saw this tragic scene.

Only then did McCarekides realize that the driver and archer on the chariot had been lodged by arrows.

When he and his teammates aimed their bows and arrows at the horses, the two frightened horses seemed to sense the danger, and ran back in a panic with the chariot, and with a "bang", they collided head-on with one of their own chariots.

In the mournful sound of the war horses, McJiakides and they breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to their teammates who were standing in place and shooting arrows, the javelinmen in the light infantry brigade did not stop after rushing out of the array, but accelerated forward.

When they were only a few dozen meters away from the slowly approaching war elephant, they risked being shot by the archers on the back of the war elephants and threw their javelins with all their might.

The Persians did not put on armor for the war elephant's skin to be tough and thick and the arrows could not penetrate it, but the Persians never imagined that the Dionians, whom they despised, were not only not afraid of this behemoth, but also took the initiative to meet the battle, and dozens or hundreds of heavy javelins concentrated on a war elephant were enough to threaten the life of the war elephant.

For the Dionian light infantry, the elephant was large and not fast, making it easier to deal with than a galloping chariot.

War elephants were quickly shot into hedgehogs.

Although these war elephants have been specially trained, their gentle nature has not changed, and they sense the danger ahead, and they turn around and run back, completely disobeying the instructions of the mahouts. Only a handful of elephants, frenzied by the pain, accelerated forward, and then fell with a scream as the javelinmen threw round after round.

When the light infantry rushed forward, the legionnaires did not relax their guard, and Arcinis, as the leader of the detachment, even ran to the front and stared nervously at the battle situation ahead.

Seeing a chariot in front of him breaking through the light infantry blockade and rushing straight towards the phalanx, he eagerly shouted: "Dodge! Dodge! ”

Since the Dionian array was a loose checkerboard array, there was plenty of space for the soldiers to dodge around. The galloping Persian chariots could not turn by inertia, so they could only follow the passage quickly given way by the Dionian soldiers, who took the opportunity to attack the chariots with bayonets from both sides, killing and wounding pack horses and drivers.