Aside from the fact that the Persia nobles despised the arrogance of the Greeks, another important reason was that the two armies were located at the southwestern edge of Missia, not far from the coast. The Persia army was large in number, and they had consumed a lot of food. Coupled with the continuous pursuit for more than ten days, the logistical transportation line had been stretched sharply, making it difficult for them to resupply. On the other hand, most of the nearby towns and cities had submitted to the Greek coalition, and the Greek fleet controlled the nearby sea area. If the two sides confronted each other for another day or two, the Persia army would have to retreat due to running out of food. Not only would their previous efforts be in vain, but it would also cause Persia's prestige in this region to plummet.
Under their insistence, Fanabazos finally made up his mind to fight the Greek coalition here.
… …
Upon learning that the Persia army was marching towards the camp, Leotychides, who had long been prepared, immediately sent messengers to inform the allied generals to assemble their respective armies and prepare to meet the enemy.
When the two armies were about a mile apart, the two armies began to line up.
The Persia coalition in Asia Minor consisted of the armies of the western regions of Asia Minor, the Greek mercenaries, the reinforcement of Galaxy Minor, and the reinforcement from the eastern regions of Asia Minor. There were nearly 80,000 soldiers in total. Since there were many Greek city-states in the western regions of Asia Minor and Galaxy Minor, the Persia army was somewhat different from the traditional Persia army. Fanabazos had learned his lesson from the previous battles with the Greeks, so he specifically emphasized the recruitment of as many Greek infantrymen as possible. Therefore, in addition to the 15,000 Greek mercenaries led by Iazon, the entire army included more than 6,000 Greek heavy infantrymen, Persia cavalry from the eastern regions of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia cavalry, and cavalry from other regions. In total, there were more than 8,000 cavalrymen. In addition, there were more than 40,000 traditional infantrymen and archers. The ratio was about 1: 2.
Archers and cavalry were Persia's strengths, and their weakness, the infantrymen, had also been strengthened. In addition, they had more soldiers than the other side. Even though they did not have the terrain advantage, Fanabazos was still very confident about this battle. Therefore, he adopted a relatively balanced formation. The Greek heavy infantrymen were at the forefront of the left, middle, and right infantry formation. Iazon's mercenaries were mainly in the middle, and there were 4,000 cavalrymen on both sides. The archers were at the back of the infantry formation.
Leotychides and the allied generals were not in a hurry to get into formation. They stood on the high ground and observed the Persia's formation for a while. When they felt that it was not out of their expectations, they began to arrange the formation according to the plan they had drawn up last night.
The Greek coalition consisted of three legions of Diónia and nearly 30,000 soldiers, about 27,000 soldiers from Greece and the Ionian Islands, and 7,000 soldiers from the Central Italian Confederation. Altogether, there were about 65,000 soldiers. Among them, there were more than 35,000 heavy infantrymen. In addition, there were more than 2,000 medium infantrymen from the Central Italian Confederation. Obviously, Persia had the upper hand in terms of medium and heavy infantrymen. However, there were only about 3,000 cavalrymen from the Thessaly Cavalry Legion of Diónia, the Macedonian Cavalry Legion, and the other Greek city-states. That was less than half of Persia's cavalry.
As for the light infantrymen, there were three light infantry battalions from the Legion of Dionysia, more than 1,000 Epirus light shield soldiers recruited by Leotychides in the mountains around Thessaly, 2,000 light infantrymen from the Central Italian Confederation, and nearly 3,000 light infantrymen provided by the Greek city-states. The total number of light infantrymen was actually close to 10,000, but it was still far less than the number of archers from Persia. Moreover, most of them were javelin throwers, so their shooting range was obviously inferior to the Persia army.
According to the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy's troops and the difference in numbers, Leotychides listed the formation: the middle was mainly led by Diónia, with a small number of Greek soldiers; the right wing was led by the Greek city-states; the left wing was led by the Diónia soldiers in the front row and the Central Italian Confederation soldiers in the back; and the cavalry was not placed at the two ends of the formation, but at the back of the middle.
The entire formation of the Dionysian Army was not completely parallel to that of the Persia army. Its right wing was slightly forward, and its left wing was slightly backward. It was actually an oblique formation, but it was different from the formation of the Thebes during the battle of Leuctra. Leotychides did not thicken his right wing, but he placed the Sparta warriors led by Agesilaus, the Thebes led by Ipamilonda, and the elite heavy infantrymen of Athens led by Iphicrates at the far right end of the right wing. Looking from afar, the entire right wing of the Greek Coalition Army was made up of Greek heavy infantrymen (Leotychides even forbade the Sparta warriors from wearing red cloaks). Even the thickness of the formation was the same, so the Persia could not make an accurate judgment. The center of the Greek Coalition Army's attack was on the right wing.
In fact, Leotychides's meticulous arrangement was indeed effective. It took the two armies more than an hour to get into position, and neither immediately launched an attack. During this period of confrontation, the Persia's military commander, Fanabazos, had a general understanding of the Greek Coalition Army's formation, but he did not make any adjustments to it. Obviously, he thought that the other side's formation was not unusual, and the Persia army could completely deal with it.
But the reason why he did not give the order to attack was because he considered that the Greek Coalition Army was on high ground, and the Persia army would be at a disadvantage if they attacked from above. Therefore, he did not give the order to advance, because he wanted to see if the other side could attack first. This way, the Greek Coalition Army would have to walk down the slope and fight on flat ground. But it was obvious that the Greek Coalition Army was cautious and had good control over the entire army.
From afar, the Greek Coalition Army looked like small trees planted neatly on the slope of the hill. This made Fanabazos even more cautious.
But after the confrontation lasted for half an hour, the Persia generals could not help but rush to question Fanabazos. It was already noon, and the weather was relatively hot. Standing for a long time was more exhausting for the soldiers. If they continued like this, they might not be able to fight and could only retreat.
Even the governor of Misia, Theopompus, threatened that if Fanabazos did not give the order to attack, he would lead the Misian army alone to attack the Greeks.
Fanabazos could not dissuade everyone's insistence, but he did not immediately give the order to attack. Instead, he first told the archers to move to the front of the formation.
After completing the formation change, he ordered again: the main forces do not move, the archers will advance first and attack the Greek Coalition Army from afar.
More than 20,000 Persia archers approached the Greek Coalition Army in a loose formation that was six to seven miles long.
Leotychides, who was informed of the situation, immediately ordered the Coalition Army's light infantry to move to the front of the formation and get ready to shoot.
The distance between the two armies was no more than 500 meters. The Persian archers were faster, and in a few moments they were within 100 meters of each other. The enemy was still out of their shooting range, but for the archers of the Greek light infantry, who were standing on higher ground, it was just within their shooting range.
The officers of the Diónia Light Infantry shouted one after another, "Archers, get ready!"
The archers drew their bows and nocked their arrows. Thousands of arrows were thrown into the air and fell on the Persia archers' formation. Screams rang out one after another.
With the Diónia Light Infantry taking the lead, the other archers of the Coalition Army also began to shoot.
Although the Persian archers' soldiers were constantly falling to the ground, for the huge number of archers, it was only a small splash. In order to deal with the Persia archers, the Greek Coalition Army had stretched their formation to a length of several kilometers. However, they were outnumbered by the Persia archers, and there were even fewer archers among them. Therefore, the long-range attack power of the Greek Coalition Army was naturally reduced by a lot. It was not enough to deal a devastating blow to the Persia archers in that area. Therefore, the Persia archers resolutely braved the rain of arrows and advanced even faster.
When the distance between the Greek Coalition Army was reduced to 60 to 70 meters, the javelin throwers of the Diónia Light Infantry roared and threw their heavy javelins at the Persia like lightning. The archers also changed from throwing arrows to shooting straight at them. More Persia archers fell, but at the same time, the Persia archers began to fight back.
Both sides were shooting arrows at each other from a distance of tens of meters. Since neither side had much protection, the arrows and javelins that covered the sky caused a sharp increase in casualties on both sides.
Persia's archers went from shooting hastily at the start to steadily increasing their output. Gradually, they turned the tables around and started to gain the upper hand. They were indeed one of the most powerful weapons that Persia had used to dominate the Middle East and Asia Minor. Except for the well-trained Diónia light infantry, the light infantry of their allies began to feel a little overwhelmed. The Epirus light shield soldiers even used their leather shields to protect their heads and rushed forward to engage the Persia archers in close combat.
The Persia archers were not afraid. They pulled out their specially prepared short blades to fight. Even though the light shieldbearers had better equipment, the Persia archers still had a slight advantage.
The whole situation of the battle began to be a little unfavorable for the Greek Coalition Army, but Leotychides, who had been watching the battle from a high position, did not appear to be anxious. He just ordered the entire cavalry to move forward to the rightmost end of the entire formation.
Then he calmly ignored the Coalition Army's light infantry that was struggling to hold on, and did not take any action. In his opinion, although the Coalition Army's light infantry was at a disadvantage, they could use the advantage of the high terrain to deal with the Persia archers for a longer period of time. Even if all of them were killed, the arrows of the Persia archers would have been almost used up, and they would not pose much of a threat to the Coalition Army's infantry. Therefore, he would rather continue to confront the Coalition Army than give up the hard-won geographical advantage and order the whole army to attack. And he firmly believed that the patience of the Persia was probably not as good as his.
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