ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 37 The Attack of Artauzus
"Let's go! Go quickly!!" Hilos pulled him and ran back. As he took the lead, the soldiers immediately retreated.

The Persian cavalry raised their bows and rushed over again. Several of them lifted Mithridates' body, and the rest chased after the Greek soldiers.This time, they learned the lesson, divided into two groups, and circled towards both sides of Davos and the others.

"Be careful with bows and arrows!" Hilos shouted, waving his hands for the soldiers to disperse.

Davos, who was inexperienced in the center of the team, hesitated for a moment and was knocked down from behind, followed by a painful groan.

"Olivers!" Davos recognized it from his face twisted in pain, but there was no time for him to think too much. Matonis and Geogris next to him quickly pulled them forward around the curve. Run hard.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!..." More than a dozen arrows flew quickly again, and two screams were heard one after another.

At this time, the supporting team had arrived. The light infantry column running in front threw javelins at the Persian cavalry, then raised their leather shields and continued to charge forward.The heavy infantrymen who came later raised their shields and formed a shield wall to block the incoming arrows.

The Persian cavalry, which consisted of only about twenty men, did not dare to fight, and quickly fled with Mithridates' body.

Only then did Davers have the opportunity to check on Olivers' injury.

Olivers saw Davos arriving and broke away from Georgris' support.

"Chief... I... I -" Before he could finish speaking, Davos gave him a strong hug: "Good brother, thank you!!"

Hearing this, Olivers's recently gloomy face showed a smile, and his whole body relaxed, and then pain came over him: "Ouch!" He yelled.

Davos thought he had touched his wound and hurriedly let go.

"Hey, Olivers, luckily you were hit by an arrow in the butt. If you were hit by an arrow in the front, I don't know how you would have screamed!" Matonis mocked.

"Damn Matonis, you're brave, try to take an arrow next time!" Olivers retorted, touching the arrow on his butt with one hand.

The noise returned to the Hilos squad.

In this attack, in addition to Olivers, another soldier was hit by an arrow in the thigh, and another was hit by an arrow in the back. However, he only suffered flesh wounds due to his thick breastplate.

"Geogris, send Olivers and the others to Helps and ask him to be treated well!" After Davos finished speaking, he patted Olivers on the shoulder: "Receive treatment well and come back to fight with us as soon as possible. !”

"Yes, chief!" replied Olivers loudly.

"Excellent raid! I didn't expect you to succeed. We were all worried about you just now!"

"Yes, you killed Mithridat, which can be regarded as a partial revenge for Menon and the others. The entire mercenary army should thank you!"

"Timazong and the others said before that we were crazy and chose leaders randomly. Let's see what they say this time."

Felicius, the squadron captains Antonios and Capos came together to congratulate Daves, and Amyntas gave him a military salute directly.

The clever Asistes brought the horse and asked Davos to mount it.

The soldiers consciously gave up a passage, shouted victory, and welcomed him back to the formation...

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"What did you say?! Davos killed Mithridates?!" After hearing what the messenger said, Timasong looked in disbelief: "This is a time of war, and spreading information indiscriminately will be punished. !”

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"Davos killed Mithridates!" Xenophon exclaimed: "He came up with a bold plan, and it actually succeeded!"

"Great!" Hieronymus took a deep breath and said in a hateful voice: "I don't think anyone else wants to escape this time! If Mithridates dies, the Persians will definitely take it out on those deserters!"

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Chrysops listened carefully to Thormid's story. Although he didn't like the young man very much, he had to admit that he did a pretty good job this time, and could even be said to have saved the entire army.Because he knows very well that mercenaries with loose military discipline and lax management are not afraid of enemy attacks. The more violent the enemy's attack, the more united the mercenaries will be.On the contrary, Mithridates' method will, over time, destroy the fighting spirit of the soldiers and cause the entire team to collapse.

Thinking of this, he showed a smile on his face and said loudly to Tormid: "Please tell Chief Davos on my behalf to thank him for his efforts for the entire army! And remind him that the enemy's attack may soon begin. It will come."

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"What?! Mithridates is dead?!" Alireus couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes, General, his body is outside the tent!" said the guard.

Alireus hurried out of the tent, followed closely by Artauzus and a familiar sent by Tissaphernes.

Mithridat's body had been simply disposed of, but it was still horrific. There were four or five wounds on his body, and a fist-sized bloody hole on his neck, with blood still oozing out.

Ariros bent down and was about to take a closer look when Artauzus couldn't help but yelled at the Persian cavalry who had fled back: "Who did it?! Who did it?!"

"They are... Menon's soldiers, they..." the Persian cavalry stuttered to describe the entire process.

"A bunch of idiots! You were actually defeated by that good-for-nothing Menon! You failed to protect Mithridates. Each of you received thirty lashes as a military punishment, and then you were punished as servants in the supply camp." Altauzus shouted angrily. .

"General, spare your life! General, spare your life!!" The Persian cavalry all kowtowed and begged for mercy.

Although Alireus felt sorry for these cavalry who were proficient in Greek, he had no intention of changing to stop Artauzus.He instructed the guards to escort the cavalry down, and then said: "Bring over some of the Greeks who escaped. I want to inquire in detail."

"What are you asking for? Kill them all! Then lead the army to attack the Greek barbarians!" Artauzus shouted impatiently.

"After Clearkus and the others were captured by us, the mercenaries must have chosen a new leader. We must first understand who they are before we can take the next step." Ariros persuaded patiently.

"If you ask, I will go and avenge Mithridates first!" Artauzus left angrily.

Alirus pretended to be helpless and shrugged at Tissaphernes's cronies.Nominally he was the commander of the army after the death of Cyrus the Younger. In fact, Mithridates and Artauzus each controlled an army, and the two were good friends, and they fought against Alireus overtly and covertly. , which often hindered Ariros.Now that Mithridates died in battle, Ariros was actually secretly happy. Compared to the tactful Mithridates, the impulsive Artauzus was much easier to deal with...

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Although Artauzus acted impulsively, he was not confused in fighting.He knew that the Persian infantry could not fight against the Greek heavy infantry, so he only selected two hundred horse archers and two hundred archers, and hurriedly led them to pursue the Greek army in the direction of march.

Since Artauzus' army was either light cavalry or archers, it was highly mobile.In the afternoon, the huge procession of the Greeks came into his view.

"Order the troops to spread out in the shape of a wild goose and move forward quickly!" Altauzus gave the order excitedly with bloodthirsty eyes in his eyes.

The Persian army was facing Crisano's rearguard. They had already expected the Persians to come again. They saw not many enemies coming. They thought they were ready to shout like last time. Therefore, although they were on guard, they did not Take it too seriously.

But they saw the Persians spreading out quickly and approaching quickly. In the blink of an eye, they were less than a hundred meters away.

Christian Norton felt bad and shouted urgently: "Get ready to defend!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Persian arrows were already attacking, and most of them hit the soldiers' round shields like raindrops.Due to the close formation of the Greek soldiers and the close proximity of the light and heavy infantry, some people were injured immediately, mainly the light infantry.

"Disperse the formation and charge forward with heavy infantry!" Crisano anxiously conveyed the order.

Arrows struck again, and another person screamed and fell down.At this time, the team was a little confused, especially the baggage camp behind him. The guards and servants hurriedly pulled the neighing oxen and horses to the north side, staying away from the rear guard to avoid harming Chi Yu.

Three squadrons of heavy infantry held round shields and charged forward against the hail of arrows.

The Persians immediately retreated.

(End of this chapter)