Before the battle, the Ptolemaic general Achillas had an altar set up and slaughtered a fat bull and offered sacrifices to Zeus, as Agamemnon did before the legendary Battle of Troy."
May God Zeus bless us with victory!"
Like Troy, this war was caused by a woman.Originally, Achillas had already chased to Syria and defeated the mercenaries she organized, ending the civil war, but who expected that Cleopatra actually attracted the Cyris from the east.This is the first time that the countries bordering the Mediterranean have faced a strange enemy.Fortunately, the Seris did not have many troops, and it was the king and close eunuchs in Alexandria who overestimated their numbers.Achillas observed that there were at most seven or eight thousand men on the opposite side, half of whom were the troops of the Normes that the queen had coaxed.On the other hand, on Achillas's side, under the red banner of the Ptolemy family, there were more than 20,000 troops.More than 3,000 spearmen of Greek descent were the main force, and they formed a depth of 24 platoons, equipped with all the equipment that the phalanx troops had: the spear of Suston, the Phrygian helmet, and the Illyrian shield, but due to the hot climate of Egypt, most of them wore linen armor, and only the front row was equipped with cuirass Ptolemaic economic difficulties, which were not as good as they were at their peak.The soldiers in the front four rows, wearing traditional bronze shin armor on their legs, carried an oval Galatian shield and a Thracian curved sword at their waists to be used when the spear broke.These 3,000 people stood very neatly, so that the captain named Chen Tang in the Syris Array on the opposite side couldn't help but praise when he saw it, this is the real "Sandwich Door Fish Scale Array"!
To the left and right were the 12,000 Egyptians called "Pandudapoi", or conscripted infantry.They were not particularly reliable troops, unarmoured, even bare-chested, and could only be used for defense with a pitiful light shield of inferior quality, with a short spear in their hands.At range, 3,000 Egyptian archers and 1,000 slingers recruited from the shepherds, although not as strong as the Rhodes slingers, were able to hit the enemy at medium distance.There were also a thousand spearmen with light leather shields and short spear bags, more than a dozen light Egyptian chariots, and several ballistas placed near the headquarters of Achillas, but could not be used in the event of an active attack.On the right flank of the array were two thousand cavalry, armed with spears and battle axes, and could not crush the enemy line with a thunderous charge like the Parthian heavy cavalry, but as a flank cavalry, it could cooperate with the phalanx and play the classic hammer anvil tactics of the Diadochi nation.On this front, the Ptolemaic army had a 3:1 numerical superiority, but morale was low, they had just been urgently recalled from distant Syria, exhausted, and rumors spread among the army that the queen had taken control of all of Upper and Lower Egypt."
If it weren't for Septimius saying that he would defend the city and was unwilling to take two thousand Roman mercenaries into battle, the advantage would have been even greater."
But such a big advantage was enough for Achillas to take the initiative to attack, and the queen brought the Seris soldiers to the city, and the people in the port were fluctuating, and the enemy army must be routed as soon as possible to restore order.He observed that the enemy had almost no cavalry, and that almost all of the infantry in the front row were armoured and phalanx, but the weapons in their hands were not simple spears, but of moderate length, and there were many swords and shields.The Seris took a defensive position, placing unloaded chariots on the perimeter to protect the ranged troops, occupying slightly higher positions, and erecting some equipment on the commanding heights, presumably the legendary "Giant Belly Crossbow".As long as the dense Cyris phalanx is broken, only the army of Gonorm loyal to the queen remains, which can be easily defeated.So Achillas adopted the tactics common to the Diadochi nations: "The phalanx pressed to the front, and then let the elephants on the right flank attack the enemy." ”The elephant, which is a key weapon in the hands of Achillas.More than a dozen heavily armed elephants marched forward from the right flank, the ground a little wet and soft for the bulky elephants, but they still marched forward steadfastly, mounted on a tower of three soldiers, a driver, an archer, and a spearman.Elephant soldiers were the standard equipment of Ptolemaic armies, but unlike the North African elephants used by Carthage and the Indian elephants used by Seleucus, the Ptolemaic dynasty could only obtain the smallest forest elephants from Nubia and other places in the south.Even so, they were much taller than horses, and their bodies and heads were draped with hard armor against arrows, and they were intricately adorned with bells and decorations that made their enemies tremble with their massive bodies.But the strength of the Seris' long-range weapons surprised Achillas, and behind the spearmen in the front row, there were three rows of crossbowmen, alternating between firing crossbows, and the elephants facing a round of crossbows.Elephants are the only way to deal with dense arrays, and they are very ineffective against skirmishers and ranged soldiers, but the Seris army is small in number, and the crossbow arrows are not dense enough, and unless the big yellow crossbow hits directly, it will not be able to break through the combination of armor and thick skin.Although a few of the war elephants were forced to turn around, the remaining dozen or so continued to move forward and began to run as they had done during training, and crossbows alone could not stop the group of giant beasts.The Ptolemaic spearmen and slingers who followed behind the elephants could not bear the casualties caused by the crossbows and could not advance, and only the phalanx marched with their shields in their hands.As soon as the elephants break up the left flank of the Seris, they will press up, and the cavalry will also be dispatched at the same time, detouring the enemy's flank and rear, completing the classic combination of hammer and anvil tactics!
As they get closer and closer, the general army has been shaken, but the Han army has been dealing with elephants a lot in India for the past ten years, and it has not moved!
Up to this point, the course of the battle was still expected by Aquilas, but then, something happened that he did not expect.I saw that the Seris were arranged high behind the array, and as the soldiers raised their fires, a strange burst of fire suddenly flashed, followed by a sharp whistling.A puff of white smoke streaked through the air and landed directly above the herd of elephants, and then there was an explosion, accompanied by two loud bangs!
Elephant soldiers are weak, and in the past, when fighting the Seleucids, the Ptolemaic dynasty used an iron thistle array against the elephant soldiers, and even herded pigs to intimidate.But Ptolemy's war elephants, often confined next to the pigsty, had become accustomed to the smell, but were still terrified of the flames and sudden loud noises.It is said that two hundred years ago, the Romans frightened off the elephants with chariots loaded with charcoal fire when they were defending against the expedition of King Pyrrhus of Epirus to Italy.What's more, now is the explosion that happened overhead?
Although, the effect is just to hear a sound.But the elephant was frightened, and then flashes, whistling, and white smoke appeared, apparently the weapons of the Seris, and even exploded at the feet of the elephant soldiers.For a time, the sound of smoke in the open space between the positions of the two armies was incessant, and the battle elephants, which were only more than 20 paces away from the enemy's formation, were in confusion.Coupled with the continuous flow of crossbow arrows, they instinctively turned around and avoided the Cyris position that was firing fireworks and mines on the opposite side, either rushing to the left and right, or running straight backwards.In the process of retreating, the panicked elephant herd rushed headlong into the phalanx of Ptolemy's left flank, which was waiting in strict formation.was also frightened by the fireworks and thunder, and before he had time to level the dense phalanx of spears, he was immediately trampled by war elephants.Just as more than a hundred years ago, when Ptolemy IV's army was attacked by war elephants at the Battle of Raphia, Achillas watched his left phalanx go into disarray.However, the Seris took the opportunity to advance, and the ring-headed knife made of the steel-filled method easily cut through the linen armor of the Ptolemaic soldiers, and even the men in the bronze cuirasses, who had no protection from their elbows and thighs, fell to the ground in pain after being stabbed severely, and in the melee, the right-wing Ptolemaic army began to retreat.Achillas was stunned, and the best way to retreat in the face of an unfamiliar weapon was to retreat, but his army was in a state of stagnation, the front row dumbfounded, and the back row stood on tiptoe or looked at each other, not knowing what was happening.A hasty withdrawal in the face of an engagement with the enemy will inevitably lead to a one-sided pursuit and a rout.So he tried to make a final remedy, made a quick judgment, and it seemed that the enemy's weapons were ringing.The elephant soldiers who fled back from the front were at most burned by the black powder that had been sprinkled, but none of them were killed, and the frequency of firing was not high.So he sent 5,000 men to the rescue of the collapsed left flank, and the remaining 2,000 phalanxes, as well as 10,000 Egyptian levies on the left and right.The Egyptians cowered and hesitated, but the well-trained phalanx resolutely carried out the order, stepping forward with spears in hand, their shields withstanding the crossbows of the Seris, and the crossbows on the opposite side became more powerful the closer they came, and could even pierce and break the round shields of the phalanxes.But for every man who fell, the people behind him would fill his place, two thousand men in a total of twenty-four rows, and the flat spears were like the spines of porcupines, getting closer and closer to the Seris!
The battle entered the spear exchange that the Greeks were best at, and the Diadochi army already had longer spears than Alexander's, and there was no doubt that they had an advantage in distance.But the tactics of the Seris were very similar to those of the Romans, although they were also phalanxes, but there were many types of weapons, long and short combined, and in the gap between the spears and the flat lift, some people even rolled out of the array, came to the Greeks and slashed at their legs, and the Greeks also used their colors, and there were only sporadic casualties on both sides.If no other forces intervene, this kind of mutual poking will continue for a long time, and the front and rear rows will rotate to fight, testing morale and order, until one side can no longer bear to collapse.But Achillas was undoubtedly superior, and he had two thousand cavalry.With the sound of the flute, the cavalry on the flanks roared and pounced on the rear of the Seris!
But they had to deal with more than the archers the queen had recruited and the crossbowmen of the Serisians, but on the cart where the cattle had been unloaded, some barrels made of bronze had been carried down, the lid had been lifted from the front, and the wooden frame had been fixed diagonally upward, and something was contained in it, which looked like countless arrowheads.When the cavalry rushed to the chariot formation with crossbow bolts and was about to throw short spears, a scene appeared that blinded everyone as the Seris soldiers lit fire!
A lead triggered a chain reaction of dozens, and with a whooshing sound, one after another flaming arrows flew out of the barrel and flew towards the face of the Ptolemaic cavalry, and once hit, it was deeply pierced into the centaur and burned.Although the accuracy is very poor, but the visual effect is max, a tube can fly nearly 100 steps, covering a wide range of 30 steps, the cavalry who have never seen this scene is even shocked with men and horses, and more than a dozen people are thrown off the horse on the spot, and more are lifeless to turn around and leave, and are taken away by a batch of crossbow arrows.On the other hand, the Seris on the other side did not panic at all, except for Chen Tang's vanguard, the others were obviously trained in India and were used to the new weapons that General Ren was tinkering with.The same weapon was also aimed at the rigid phalanx that stood still, and with countless fireworks whizzing through the air, the phalanx of the Greeks, known for its order, was chaotic and retreated in the face of this heavenly fire meteor.The rockets did far less damage than the ballistas, but the rockets ignited a panic among the Greeks when they landed, and with the attack of the Seris, the phalanx began to crumble from the rear.The more than 10,000 Egyptians arranged around the phalanx turned around and ran after being hit once, but only a few were killed by arrows and burned their hair.The reservists in the rear watched this scene, their eyes widened, and the scene seen in the distance was even more exaggerated, as if it were a volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean, with countless magma and smoke pouring down over people's heads, and their footsteps couldn't help but move backwards."
This is the thunder of Zeus!"
The Greeks whispered, and even Achillas' lips trembled, remembering the story of Iliadri: "Zeus the Father quickly threw a thunderbolt that exploded in front of Diomedes' horse, and the light was blinding, and it caused a terrible fire, which terrified the horse and retreated backwards with its chariot back!"
”It's exactly the same!"
Could it be, Zeus, on the side of the queen and the cyris?"
Cleopatra, who had never seen this kind of combat and almost dropped his jaw in shock, knew that this matter had nothing to do with him, and stared at General Ren who was calmly commanding in the smoke of gunpowder.This, the mysterious power from the East?
It seems that she will have to re-evaluate the strength of the Seris.Maybe the country of Seris can really protect Egypt and win independence from Rome!
The elephants, cavalry, and phalanx were all defeated, and although the casualties were minimal, their morale and spirit were greatly damaged, and the enemy did not know how many strange weapons were not used.Akilas wavered, gritted his teeth, and gave the order to retreat, before the Seris could use a larger weapon of killing.But the retreat in this case was inevitably accompanied by heavy casualties, and the Han army began to pursue in an orderly manner, and even the three Nome commanders under the queen also reacted, followed the chase to the north, during which they were counterattacked by the cavalry and retreated back."
It's a shame."
And the battlefield is in place, the mysterious "Shenji Battalion" is celebrating the victory is not the first battle, before coming to Egypt, General Ren has already tried to open a war against a small Central Indian country twice.Looking at the enemy who retreated after the setback, Ren Hong couldn't help but pat the third weapon that didn't come in handy because it was too cumbersome and troublesome to operate, and made people cover the cloth again."
Seven years of alchemy, three years of weapon making, only to make three weapons that can be used, the first two are still more useless the more times, the only one that can be used, but you have to wait for the next time to play."
And Chu Shaosun, who had been behind the array, had been covering his ears for a long time, and he also walked over with his mouth wide open at this moment.Before the construction of the Shenji Division, he saw that the weapon that had just scared the elephant soldiers away was nothing more than a slanted wooden trough on the top of a zigzag wooden fork, in which was placed a weapon with paper wings, a small bamboo tube tied to the shaft of the arrow, and a lead behind it.As for the weapon that fired dozens of rockets at a time, it was a combination of a bronze barrel and a disc like a steamed cake, stuffed with dozens of arrows, and only the end of the arrow was tied with the same small bamboo tube as the former, and the stench of a large foreign body burning made people cough, and the faces of the soldiers were blackened.Chu Shaosun cautiously asked Ren Hong what this was, but General Ren asked Liu Gengsheng to deal with him.Liu Gengsheng's face is also black, when he was young, he originally wanted to learn from those monks in Huainanzi to refine real gold, but he was led astray by the master, after learning the knowledge called "elements", he knew that mercury dansha could not be turned into gold, but under the guidance of Ren Hong, he refined something called "black powder", and it was made into a weapon, the effect was surprisingly good, and the general did not object to him bringing these things back to the Han Dynasty."
This thing was originally intended to be called a swarm of bees, like ten thousand bees out of the tube, fire stinging people, how good.""
But the hussar general took a nickname, called Katyusha.""
I don't know what language it is."
Liu Gengsheng complained slightly.This low-profile version of the rocket launcher was originally used by Li Jinglong, the god of war of the Ming Dynasty, although the visual effect is amazing, but it is also good to scare for the first time, and the enemy is used to it or if it is firm enough, it will not be used.But there was no way, their master and apprentice worked with many craftsmen for a few years, and they came up with three cost-effective weapons, and the others either failed repeatedly or were too expensive, so they could only make do with them."
What is this?"
Chu Shaosun asked about the weapon that was fired and exploded twice when it landed.Liu Gengsheng smiled: "This thing, I originally wanted to call it the Divine Fire Crow." ”Then he had a bitter face, there was a teacher, and he didn't have the right to name it at all: "But the hussar general, because it sounded twice, had to call it" "Two kicks!"
”PS: Chapter 2 is before 0:00.