The reason why Laykash was able to gather much more men than Grahtos was mainly because when the 5,000 men and thousands of horses to their left crossed the left-to-right flowing river, they created a kind of makeshift dam for Laykash's men,
Hence after a while Menes gave his order, both cavalry flanks managed to successfully create a bridgehead on the enemy's side without them noticing and now it was time to make them pay for that little oversight of not building fortifications all around their missile units.
"Hahaha! Attack! Men attack!" And worst of all, the Tibians had no idea of their impending doom, as their commanders only cheered their men to concentrate on the enemy right in front of them and blast them into smithereens.
*Blare*
*Blare*
*Blare*
So imagine their surprise when these men heard the distinct trumpet call of a cavalry charge and a few moments later felt the ground beneath them shake.
'Is it ours? Did His Majesty decide to join the fight?" Some were so confused that they even mistook the call as their own as opposed to the enemy's.
"Oh… no!" But not all.
Some of the sharper men clearly noticed the difference in the trumpet's pitch and tone and knew it had to be the enemy's.
And they very well understood what was about to happen, as trumpet calls were usually followed by that.
And then, as if to vindicate their low panicking murmur, the men quickly began to spot their dread come to life, as they saw horses upon horses coming over the horizon, galloping, the beasts neighing and bleating, their riders shouting and cheering, their lances held firm and flat, as the cavalry charged full steam ahead towards the open flanks of these lightly armored troops.
*Bang* *Thud*
*Bang* *Thud*
There were two distinct loud rumbles as the two cavalry wings hit the soldiers at the opposing sides at slightly different times, but the damage was equally horrific.
The light infantry formations were smashed apart at the point of contact, many men being literally thrown into the sky by the impact, as the charge then opened a gaping hole on the two sides.
Through which the strong beasts simply used their momentum to bulldoze a path through, kicking, trampling, and even biting the dense crowd of men aside.
It was a massacre.
"Run"
"Run"
"Run for your lives"
"Ahhhh!"
All such synonyms were thrown by the Tibians as the formation then instantly began to rout, though the instructions were largely unnecessary.
The cleverer ones had already begun to run the moment they spotted the dust cloud coming from both sides and when some ran, like how a sand castle collapses when hit by the waves, the solid formation line too began to dissolve away, with each soldier following the one in front of him as a guide.
And as the battlefield was set abuzz by the panicked shout and death throes of the Tibians, it was joined by the opposite sort of emotion, one of jubilation and ecstasy.
"Kill!"
"Kill them all!"
"Don't let them escape,"
Seeing the Tibian leave their posts and run, for Menes's cavalrymen, this only ignited their battle lust, as the men spurred their steeds to sprint even quicker and take as many lives as possible as quickly as possible.
Lightly armored, running and out of formation, and panicking soldiers were the favorite prey for any cavalry and the 1,700 riders appeared to have a field day as they galloped freely across the battlefield, slaughtering archers, javelin throwers, and slingers in the back using their long spears with extreme prejudice.
While from the other side of the bank, Menes recognized that the enemy's rear guard had been destroyed and the opposite side was free of obstacles, and so the officers were soon given the order to charge.
"Now advance!"
"Advance!"
'Quickly move forward!"
Hence soon, the entire 41,000 men army began to wade into the shallows and start crossing en-mass in absolute safety.
But as legion after legion began to make it to the other side, and then form up in formation, the situation at the front lines began to at last change, evident that the Tibians would not make victory that easy for Menes.
And this was because after a while of free slaughter, soon the cavalry seemed to have met its match.
For Perseus had personally led around 3,000 of his best cavalry to come to his men's rescue.
The king had been alerted of the attack much earlier, right when the first crossing had begun to take place, as a messenger had barged into his tent unannounced to shout, "Your Majesty, Zanzan is attacking!"
This news immediately wiped away any semblance of sleep in the king, as he bolted up straight from his bed, and after taking a moment to think, decisively ordered, "Prepare the cavalry! I will personally go see the frontlines."
The scout was a bit fluxed at this order, as the situation that he described there did not seem anywhere close to needing the king to go see it himself.
According to the scouts, they even seemed to be winning the confrontation handily.
But what did he know?
Since the king had ordered it, the poor man only saluted and then instantly obeyed.
So a while later, Perseus found much of his horsemen ready to ride out, as he himself approached his magnificent horse, while dressed in his unusually ornate personal armor.
And there his right-hand man, Leosydas was already waiting for him, who too seemed to share his king's concern, saying, "This attack is indeed too strange. It would be prudent for us to have a look."
"Mmm, this reckless attack does not seem to match the mold of the well-disciplined army we saw. Something is fishy." Perseus said with knitted eyebrows.
Now, the fact that his battle instincts were so sharp that they warned him of such a possibility even when he was yet to step onto the battlefield himself just went on to prove why he was considered one of the best generals of his time.
Perseus had been born with this almost magical sense of the battlefield, and then that had then been honed by Amenheraft's brutal attack.
And so, believing his sixth sense, he additionally turned to Leosydas and ordered, "You stay here and organize the infantry."
"I have a feeling this attack is bigger than it seems."
And then with this order, Perseus soon launched the counter cavalry attack, making it appear faster than Menes had expected.
Though that was also because the Zanzan cavalry got delayed in their flanking maneuver due to a more difficult than anticipated river crossing.
But nevertheless, this ultimately meant that instead of the complete annihilation of the 4,000 Tibians, Menes only managed to get 2,000 men dead and wounded, while the rest managed to escape with the help of the 3,000 riders acting as their rear guards.
"Attack!"
"Push them back!"
While Perseus seeing the enemy cavalry wreck havoc on his formation, gave this loud battle cry atop his horse, as he then personally led the charge against the enemy cavalry.
And given it was a 1,700 vs 3,000 advantage for him, with the Tibian king even having the better quality troops, the Zanzan cavalry soon began to take serious casualties, with some units even beginning to show cracks and buckles.
Additionally, Menes had not even equipped his cavalry with horse armor so as to not slow them down or drown them when crossing the river, and so the inexperienced cavalry corp did not even have the material advantage to offset their other lackings.
And so, Perseus actually got close to routing the enemy horsemen, if one for the clever intervention of another legion commander.
"Quick! Reinfice the cavalry!
"Go! Help them!"
"March men! March!"
This decisive action was led by the first legion commander, the one whose unit had been badly mauled by projectiles.
Who, upon seeing the writing on the wall had quickly decided to add his men to the fray, thickening the cavalry lines, and boosting the Zanzan horsemen's faltering morale
And so then the fight changed to a brutal hand-to-hand, as the horsemen sitting atop their horses with their shields and spears tried to poke and stab the other party, their target- both the man and horse.
While the meantime, for Zanzan, all the soldiers finally managed to cross the river and form rank on the opposite bank, as did the leftover cavalry on both sides.
While for Tibias, their king's heroic charge stabilized the front long enough to give Leosydas enough time to gather the phalanx and have them form a solid line before quickly marching to reinforce their liege and meet the enemy.
*Blare*
*Blare*
*Blare*
So with both sides seeing their infantry approach, and sensing the real battle was about to begin, they each sounded retreat trumpets for their cavalry, thus clearing the way for the infantry clash in the middle.
So after a while, the battlefield began to look like this.
On the center, the biggest clash was happening, with 32,000 Tibian phalangites facing 40,000 of Menes's legionaries.
While the horsemen took their fight to the wings, with each side consisting of 2,000 men for both forces.
And lastly were the reserves, which for Tibias was its 20 war elephants.
And for Zanzan was the 5,000 legionary of the first legion, plus 1,000 crossbowmen who were there to deal with emergencies.
[P.S- Battle formation pic in comment]]
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