Chapter 2
Chapter 02 – The death of Cyrus the Younger (2)
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Clearchus looked at the much thicker square in the enemy’s center and saw that the enemy’s left wing is longer than his own . Although he had been fully supportive of Cyrus the Younger from the beginning, it doesn’t mean that he would obey his orders, He bluntly refused: “Your Highness, I think we should first defeat the enemy’s left wing and then hit the enemy’s center, this is safer . ”
“I know Artaxerxes, I understand the Persian army and also understand your Greek phalanx as well! Believe me, my friend, your army will easily defeat the army of Artaxerxes! He has more troops but it’s useless, Artaxerxes will be defeated!” Cyrus the Younger persuaded him .
Clearchus stubbornly shook his head: “Sorry, Your Highness! I will not expose the phalanx flank to the enemy troops!”
Cyrus the Younger frowned and stared at Clearchus, but there was no time for him to organize words to persuade the other party . As for ordering by force, the other party is a mercenary and not his men .
“Alright, just do what you have said!” Cyrus the Younger turned his horse head . Abruptly pulling the reins and returning back .
When the two armies were about 500 meters apart, the Greek soldiers began to sung the song of Ares, the God of war, and marched forward .
When the song was over, they were less than 200 meters apart .
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“Ares!!!” The soldiers shouted in unison, then they started to jog, then ran faster and faster… Tens of thousands Greek Hoplites1 converged “boom! Boom! Boom!…” Their footsteps were like thunder gathering energy to break the dark night with lightning!
The Persians on the opposite side seemed to be completely frightened by the overwhelming sea of steel . With the approaching Greek army, except for a few chariots that rushed straight through the Greek army, accompanied by screams, broken limbs and finally disappearing into silence, the others forgot to shoot their arrows and raise their shields due to fear .
When the two armies were more than a dozen meters apart, the Persians collapsed and they turned and fled .
The Greeks did not expect that victory would come so quickly and that their energies had not yet been exhausted, they then pursue their enemies more vigorously .
At first, the captains like Hielos kept reminding their teammates: “Stay in formation, don’t run too fast! Stay in formation…”
In the end, the team got completely dispersed and all Greeks were in the excitement of pursuit .
Cyrus the Younger who is currently in the center didn’t expect the victory of the right wing to come so fast and for a moment he was somewhat stunned .
“Cyrus the Great, Long live!!!” The attendants had begun to wave their spears and shouted victory .
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“Your Highness, are we going to follow suit?” Artapatus asked him .
He shook his head and looked straight ahead to his left .
He knows very well that only by killing that man can he attain the supreme crown .
“Messenger! Let the left wing that Ariaeus leads to stop and prepare for defense!” Cyrus the Younger immediately issued an order . He knew very well that his strongest force was the Greek mercenaries, now that the Greeks had defeated the enemy’s left wing, he did not have to rush to let the left wing, which was obviously smaller than the enemy’s, clash with the enemy’s right wing . In case of a quick defeat, the battle would be troublesome . It would be better to wait as long as possible for the return of the Greek mercenaries who had pursued the defeated army and victory would be in his hands .
But while he patiently waited for the enemy to come, the other side’s center stopped moving .
Soon, his face changed .
Because the enemy’s center began to split into two parts, with the left part changing direction towards the left .
“Not good! They want to attack the Greeks!!” Artapatus shouted .
The Greek Hoplites that were scattered in pursuit of the defeated army will likely fall into chaos if they were attacked from the rear by the enemy and the situation would be reversed .
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“Artaxerxes, how dare you change formation on the battlefield . Did you really think that due to me having a fewer cavalry and won’t dare to take the initiative to attack!” Cyrus the Younger sneered and made a quick decision in his mind . He raised his spear and pointed forward: “Command the right wing to speed up! The cavalry attacked with me!”
“Your Highness, please put on your helmet!” The attendant hastily handed over his helmet, Cyrus the Younger then rushed out, the attendants on the left and right rushed to catch up and soon guarded him in the center .
More than 800 cavalry formed a wedge-shaped formation and sped straight towards the persian king’s central troops .
Artagases, the commander of the persian king’s central troops, did not expect that Cyrus the Younger dares to attack at this time and hurriedly deployed the cavalry to intercept . However, at this moment, the team is currently changing positions, the vast revolving infantry formation blocked the cavalry’s way forward, and it is not easy to squeeze out thousands of cavalry from the gap in the formation . Cyrus the Younger together with the galloping cavalry have already reach them .
A burst of neighing horses and the the hastily patched cavalry defense of the persian troops got instantly torn apart .
Then, like a sharp knife, the cavalry of Cyrus the Younger plunged into the persian king’s central troops that was turning around .
Cyrus the Younger was brave and fierce, he used to hunt black bears by himself . Birds of a feather flock together . His cavalry and followers are also warriors, facing their enemies behind their backs, they didn’t even waste their spears (because there were no stirrups at that time, and when the moving cavalry stabbed the enemy, they had to let go immediately, or they would be pushed off by the reaction force), using the horse’s high-speed charge to break into the formation and crush the enemy .
Affected by the defeat of the left wing, the Persian infantry who took the lead began to flee, and the cavalry of Cyrus the Younger took advantage of the situation to hunt them down . Cyrus the Younger then caught sight of the Persian king’s chariot in the dust . Originally, the main force on the left side of the persian central troops collapsed, forming a big gap, the Persian king who was in the rear was naturally exposed .
“Left!!” Cyrus the Younger was so excited that he swung his spear to bypass the persian central troops that had come to rescue and obliquely inserted towards the Persian king’s rear troops . Afterwards dozens of cavalry followed .
“Come quickly! Protect the King!!” The Persian king’s imperial guard general, Artagases, shouted while he took the lead on guarding against the cavalry that is nearby and intercepting them .
Faced with a swarm of enemies, Cyrus the Younger had no fear, he then pulled out his greek sword and clamped on the horse’s belly with both legs, and when he saw the right moment, the spear on his right hand deflected the spear that Artagases fiercely stab, he then extended the sword on his left hand and without any effort, Artagases’ neck got easily cut by the greek sword with the help of the horse forward rush… . .
Cyrus the Younger killed several people with his superb skill and riding skills . Soon, his cavalry caught up and blocked the other enemy horses for him . Between him and Artaxerxes, the Persian king, there was only the royal guards remaining around the chariot . He could even clearly see his brother’s frightened face .
Thinking of his imprisonment and thinking of him occupying the throne that should be his (It’s just Cyrus the Younger’s imagination, the old Persian King didn’t even think about passing the throne to him), rage burned in his chest: “Artaxerxes!” He roared and threw out the spear in his hand, with the sound of exclamation, the spear flew through the gap between the royal guards and hit the Persian king in the chest .
The Persian king screamed and fell from his chariot .
There was chaos when they saw the Persian king fall . His anger was finally vented, and he wildly laughed, as if the Persian crown had arrived, but he did not hear the cavalry behind him that was urgently shouting: “Your Highness, look out! LOOK OUT!!…”
The laughter came to an abrupt end . A javelin flew out of the chaotic crowd and hit him in the eye .
He did not utter a word and immediately fell off the horse…
↑ Hoplite were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields .