Chapter 868 Perseus Vs Alexander (Part-3)
868 Perseus Vs Alexander (Part-3)
Chapter 868
Lord Mithriditus's reinforcements consisted half of infantry and half of cavalry, and at Perseus's deployment, it was these men that rode out first, engaging the enemy attempting to break through.
And it would not be wrong to say that it was them who proved critical in stopping Talukder (Viscount) Prantik from winning the battle then and there, for they were able to come to the aid of the damaged section of the lines very quickly, giving the legion commander no time to swing around and attack the surrounding phalangites' flanks.
"*Haaaah!*"
"Come brothers! The ancestors beckon us!"
"For Tibias! For His Majesty!"
"For glory!"
It helped that this entire force consisted mostly of Perseus's royal guards and they engaged the legionaries with nary a hesitation.
These experienced veterans did not fear the battlefield.
Instead, they were almost drawn to it.
Thus after these men made contact, they started to engage with the legionaries in the traditional manner of the time, wheeling in and out of the infantry's range in groups of hundred while throwing javelins and striking them with spear stabs, hence slowly whittling the enemy down and preventing the legionaries moving forward.
The short sword of the legionaries had always been an ineffective weapon against cavalry, their range very lacking compared to the other's long spears.
Thus facing even such a small number of men, the men appeared unable to advance and even started to get pushed up to their original starting point.
And once the slower phalangites had the time to catch up and finally joined the fray, Talukder (Viscount) Prantik's advances appeared to have been stopped for good.
For the time being that is.
Because it was one thing to stop an enemy's advance, it was entirely another to destroy them.
And Talukder (Viscount) Prantik was far from being destroyed.
Although that little consolation appeared to ring hollow to the man personally, as he loudly and very verbally cursed his men for being cowards and not grabbing the opportunity when it presented itself.
It was an unfair critique of the men but fueled by the heat of the moment and the lure of winning the battle then and there, it could be said to be an understandable one.
While Talukder (Viscount) Prantik was only unhappy with the result, Perseus was feeling quite distressed even with the favorable result he had managed to achieve.
It was because he knew that although he had just barely managed to halt the collapse of his army, he had not managed to solve the core part of the issue.
And so he once again sent word inquiring about the state of the flanks, but received the same result- 'They needed just a bit more time.'
To say this frustrated the man would be an understatement, and seeing the flanks going nowhere, Perseus decided to change tactics.
The keen eyed king had noticed some time ago what he deemed to be some kind of flaw in the enemy's flank, and he decided to try it.
"Since we are having such a hard time breaking through the wagon, tell the men to stop trying to reach the archers behind but instead concentrate on destroying those structures." Perseus's plan called for the ludicrous attempt to hit not where the enemy was the weakest, which was what they were trying to do till now by slowly clearing out the archers before preceding, but instead asked to hit the enemy where he was the strongest, which were the wooden barricades themselves.
And hearing so the messenger who was noting all this down in his memory almost jumped in shock, half fearing the king might have gone mad!
But fortunately, Perseus was no tyrant who just said something and asked his men to carry it out regardless.
Instead, detecting the reaction, the latter heard the king provide guidance,
"I spotted those wagons are being pulled by oxen with a trainer next to them. Target those specifically."
"Kill them or force them to flee! The enemy will not be able to protect such vulnerable targets for too long."
"Once the hard shell runs away, the soft inwards will be doomed!"
"Order this quickly!"
Perseus's plan was indeed this- to target the most vulnerable units and cause their deaths, thus breaking the enemy's spirits and initiating a rout.
Perseus would see that those animal handlers that were in charge of looking after the oxen and 'operating' them were no warriors but dressed merely like slaves and servants.
So he reasoned that killing them should be easy.
And this was indeed true, as in reality, these men were part of the logistics crew, in charge of the everyday task of hauling Alexander's various camp supplies.
They were no soldiers but had been just temporarily drafted to this new purpose only for the battle.
Thus they did not get any bronze armor or chainmail or even a proper shield, which was the greatest weapon on any battlefield.
Instead, they only wore some leather scraps of armor that those men themselves had managed to scrounge together somehow and held just a small shield and a pointy spear to poke at in the most dire of needs.
So against all the other well equipped men just behind them, they stuck out like a sore thumb.
And as the overall commander of the force, for Alexander to not have properly equipped these men was indeed a grave oversight.
Something that Perseus seemed poised to exploit.
But in defense of Alexander, there were indeed several reasons for him to do this.
First and foremost, was because he simply did not categorize these animal handlers as troops.
To him, these men seemed more like helpers and extras, kind of like the medics, arrow boys, runners, and even other ox handlers who were stationed behind the frontlines to supply the army with various things.
Hence colored by that thought, Alexander simply painted all the men with the same brush and erornously overlooked those specific men.
There was also the fact that Alexander did not think these men would have to fight.
In this mind, the relentless volley of arrow fire from the crossbowmen arranged behind the wagons should have been so withering that these men on the frontlines would face very little hostility from the enemy phalangites.
Hence, given the minimal danger, Alexander gave them the minimal tools to deal with them.
And lastly, Alexander figured given his strengthened center, he would be able to win the fight way before anything untoward could start to develop.
It was slightly hubristic on his part but after his recent string of victories, who could have blamed Alexander for riding a bit high and feeling confident?
It was also due to the same reason that the man who could be said to have basically invented barding (the act of armoring one's horse) did not bother to armor the oxen, leaving them with no defenses other than their hide, which might be good for keeping safe from the open elements, but certainly not adequate to stave off sharp, pointy spear stabs.
And this was perhaps the most damning, as although those handlers were able to at least nimbly dodge out the phalangites' spear stabs in the worst case scenario, the huge size of the animals made that very hard to pull off in their case.
And when that was coupled with the fact that these oxen were attached to the wagons that made movement impossible, turning them basically sitting ducks, well, as Perseus's order began to take effect, the once solid, invincible right wing of Alexander began to slowly but surely crack.
It was not immediate but it was definitely noticeable, as these men and animals who were unable to retreat back to the safety of the backlines even if they wanted to were slowly being targeted and killed one by one.
The situation was further hindered against Alexander by the fact that in this particular sector, Perseus's 7,000 greatly outnumbered Alexander's 4,000 men.
And these 7,000 were no peasant militia but could be considered one of the best fighting forces in the world, while Alexander's men were considered of poor quality even by peasant standards.
For they had virtually been just plucked off the field by Lord Theony, who handed them a stick and ordered them to follow him, with little to no training.
It was only upon reaching the capital Parthenigh that they received some under Alexander's order, but even there, other than learning what the various orders meant and learning the various trumpet signals, these men mostly learned how to use the crossbow- how to aim, shoot, and reload the thing while standing behind a barrier, the wooden wagons.
This was because given the limited time, it was far easier than learning how to wield a spear.
But although those skills taught by Alexander made them suitable for simply holding on and defending,these 'legionaries' utterly failed in the task being asked of them right now- which was defending the vulnerable oxen and their handlers.
So as time went on, more and more of Perseus's spears found their mark, killing the poor animals or their handlers and causing others to try and flee in fear.
Thus, unbeknownst to Alexander, in a small corner of his army, things were not going so well!
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