Chapter 866 Perseus Vs Alexander (Part-1)
866 Perseus Vs Alexander (Part-1)
Lord Theony met Alexander in private to ask him to let his son Gnaeus lead the right flank of the army, and thus help the man obtain some much needed military accumulation.
"My lord, I have been training my son since childhood about warfare. He will certainly prove his mettle! All he needs is a chance."
The man pleaded on his progeny's behalf.
"Mmmm…" And looking at the hopeful, almost glassy pairs staring at him, Alexander put on a pretended thinking hum,
"Okay," before Alexander subsequently lightly nodded in agreement.
Since the flanks' jobs were so simple- just stand, defend, and shoot arrows, Alexander did not find a reason to be too fussed over who the commander was there.
Even if the man was not as competent as Lord Theony was making him out to be, unless someone was actively trying to sabotage the formation, Alexander figured he could put a monkey in charge and the men on the frontlines could still figure out the things on their own.
Alexander's approval was met with a torrent of profuse thanks as Lord Theony's eyes appeared to be almost shining, while Alexander stoically only waved his hand and replied, "Don't mention it."
However, even though Alexander was thinking this was the end of the meeting, it appeared Lord Theony was not done yet.
For instead of excusing himself, Lord Theony stood there and put on a slightly embarrassed face, before once again asking, "Ummm… my lord, if I stay in the same unit as Gnaeus, I believe the men will not learn to respect him. I want to let him grow up on his own."
"That's why I was thinking…." Lord Theony here paused for a brief second as if feeling a bit ashamed to say the next words, but it was only for a second,
"I was thinking my lord if I could lead the other wing!"
The man was truly bold.
He was planning to horde the majority of the acclaim from this battle to his family.
'Man! Why don't you ask to lead my army next next!' And hearing so Alexander wanted to even sneer so.
But intent on still keeping the conversation civil, Alexander only returned a placid deadpan look, as if to say, 'Are you serious?'
While Lord Theony, as if having anticipated this, quickly chimed, "My lord! The Tiban nobles are very proud. I fear that Lord Heliptos might…"
"Okay, you can have it." Alexander was not in the mood to hear and argue about some minor reason that the other side had probably made up.
So intercepting the other party mid sentence, he waved his hand and breezily agreed to Lord Theony's request, finding the man's wants immaterial to the overall situation, as he then promptly dismissed the man.
It was the morning of the great battle and Alexander far more preferred to concentrate on preparing his army for the upcoming clash.
It was after a hearty breakfast, around late morning that the two armies lined up for battle, Alexander on the attacking side and Perseus on the defensive.
*Trumpet*, *Trumpet*
And seeing his enemy right there, Alexander immediately ordered the men to advance, blowing his war trumpets to give the signal.
This was probably the first time Alexander initiated an attack on his own and a rare instance where Perseus stood passively on defense.
As the defender, the king got to choose the venue of the battle, and the regal man had decided to place his army right in front of the city of Lilybee, placing his back on the city walls.
This was done very intentionally, to try and ensure that the men in the army, whose morale was questionable, could not rout even if they wanted, and thus stayed and fought down to the last men.
Perseus was determined to make Alexander slaughter by hand all 35,000 men if he wanted to claim victory here.
It was with such determination that Perseus watched Alexander slowly advance, his face stoic and devoid of any emotion, while his eyes were sharp and focused as ever.
From atop his horse, he first squinted his eyes to try and figure out the enemy's distribution, and then spotting something very unexpected, he muttered in quite a disturbed tone,
"Something's wrong! The enemy flanks do not seem to have any horses!"
A core component of Perseus's strategy was to use the sarissa wielding mercenaries and raging elephants to destroy the cavalry and thus open up an opportunity for outflanking the enemy.
But if the cavalry did not even exist, what was Perseus going to destroy?
It seemed unintentionally, Alexander had foiled a large part of Perseus's plan.
"Dammit!"
And stumbling on the very first obstacle, Perseus felt extremely frustrated.
But other than cursing himself, there was little he could do right now.
It was already too late to change the battle formation, as the enemy was literally only ten to fifteen minutes away from making contact.
While it might sound not too long, it was not too short either.
And it had to be noted that Perseus's lines were so long that it took literally around that same time to just send or receive any kind of message.
'I will have to think of something later!'
Thus it was with that hugely optimistic thought that Perseus decided to currently only focus on trying to survive the initial contact.
Hence, as Perseus's men braced themselves for the inevitable clash, Alexander's legionaries, full of spirit and fighting zeal due to their recent string of victories, charged forward like a freight train, eager for battle and glory, as the sergeants (100 men leader) leading them whipped them into a battle crazed frenzy,
"Charge! Do not falter men!"
"Victory and glory await us. March!"
"Gold! Women! Wine! All fine things await you. All you have to do is take them!"
"The king's head! The one who gets the king's head will get 10,000 ropals!"
The various officers enticed their units like this.
One of the reasons for doing this was because ancient battles were really brutal and many times entire units simply decided not to move forward in fear of dying.
There were many examples of individual units simply remaining in a standoff with another enemy unit but not making any move.
Thus it was a standard tactic to try and convince these men somehow to attack the other side, be it enticement through rewards, reminding them of their duty, or even just the threat of punishment.
Alexander's men covered the required distance quickly, and when they were close enough like they had practiced a million times over,
"Throw!" Came their officer's command.
*Shoo*, *Shoo*
And a dearth of deadly pilla flew threw the air and peppered the defending phalangites, the hard iron tips of the weapon embedding themselves into the heavy wooden shields and getting stuck in them, making the shield now useless, while a lucky few even managed to pierce flesh and claime a life or two.
"Hold your ground men! Shields up! Shield up! Do not falter! Do not give them an inch! Defend your ancestral homeland!"
At this initial attack, Perseus and his other officers could only shout so from behind, trying to boost morale with their urging.
The phalangites managed to withstand two volleys of such projectiles, and then came the much anticipated and much dreaded clash, as 30,000 men in the center crashed into a number almost half as theirs.
*Bang!*
As the men locked shields and exchanged heavy weapon slashes, there was a large metallic thud, followed by a chorus of bloodthirsty cries and pained cries of dying men, and Perseus's lines showed signs of breaking right then and there.
This was because what they were facing were not only men twice as many as them, but also quite experienced ones.
By now the men Alexander had placed on the frontlines were no longer green recruits, but quite experienced men out of their own merit.
Many were veterans who had fought their first battle on that hill against Amenheraft, where Alexander had ambushed and almost killed the king.
That was almost four years, and after that, they had fought in quite a few battles.
There was the famous battle for the capital, the almost hopeless battle against Pasha Djoser, taking the city of Jabel, their first loss against Perseus, the siege of Zanzan, the battle for the manor, the siege of Thesalie, the battle of Sissillpond and lastly this.
So this was the tenth time to be on the battlefield for many omen.
And after so many times, that initial fear and doubt that gripped every man upon stepping into the battlefield was no more.
The men almost mechanically approached the enemy phalangites, while some even cockily looked at the enemy and swore under their breath,
"Green!" for they could see many of their counterparts' hands shaking, clear evidence of the other side's lack of experience.
Hence expertly ducking beneath the mass of spears in front of them, or simply swiping them away with their shields, Alexander's men bypassed the enemy's most formidable weapons and once in range, started to engage in close quarters melee.
"Arghhh! No!"
"Ahhh! Too many!"
"Brother! Get up, brother! You cannot die!"
"There is…. no hope!"
And immediately the legionaries started to grind through them like expert butchers.
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